was born circa 772 to Charlemagne (747-814) and Hildegard (758-783) and died 4 December 811 in Bavaria, of stroke. Charles the Younger was the second son of Charlemagne and the first by his second wife, Hildegard of Swabia. When Charlemagne divided his empire among his sons, his son Charles was designated King of the Franks.

His elder brother, Pippin the Hunchback, was disinherited, and his younger brothers Carloman (renamed Pepin) and Louis the Pious received Italy and Aquitaine, respectively.

Charles was mostly preoccupied with the Bretons, whose border he shared and who insurrected on at least two occasions and were easily put down, but he was also sent against the Saxons on multiple occasions. Charles' father outlived him, however, and the entire kingdom thus went to his younger brother Louis the Pious, Pippin also having died.

Around 789 it was suggested by Charlemagne that Charles the Younger should be married to Offa's daughter Ælfflæd. Offa insisted that the marriage could only go ahead if Charlemagne's daughter Bertha was married to Offa's son Ecgfrith. Charlemagne took offence, broke off contact, and closed his ports to English traders. Eventually, normal relations were reestablished and the ports were reopened. Just a few years later, in 796, Charlemagne and Offa concluded the first commercial treaty known in English history.

His father associated Charles in the government of Francia and Saxony in 790, and installed him as ruler of the ducatus Cenomannicus (corresponding to the later Duchy of Maine). Charles was crowned King of the Franks at Rome December 25, 800, the same day his father was crowned Emperor.

On 4 December 811, in Bavaria, Charles had a stroke and died. He left no children.

--------------------

From the Foundation foir Medieval Genealogy page on Carolingian Kings:

He is named, and his parentage recorded, in the Gesta Mettensium, which specifies that he was his parents' first son[92].

The Chronicon Fontanellense records that Charles I King of the Franks proposed a marriage between “Offæ Rege Anglorum sive Merciorum…filiam” and “Carolus iunior”, but that King Offa refused unless “Berta filia Caroli Magni” was also married to his son which was unacceptable to the Frankish king[93]. King Charles ordered an embargo on trade imports from England as a result[94].

His father associated Charles in the government of Francia and Saxony in 790[95]. The Annales Laurissenses record that "rex Carolus" installed "primogenitum filium suum Carolum" in "ultra Sequaname…ducatum Cenomannicum" but that this reverted to his father in the summer of the same year[96].

From this time Charles used the title king, and was crowned King of the Franks at Rome 25 Dec 800.

Einhard records that "Karolum filium suum [Karoli imperatoris]" invaded "terram Sclavorum…Sorabi" in 806 as far as "super Albium fluvium" and that "Miliduoch Sclavorum dux" was killed during the campaign[97].

At the partition agreed at Thionville in 806, Charles was designated sovereign of Francia (Austrasia and Neustria), northern Burgundy, northern Alemannia, Thuringia, Saxony, Frisia and the Bavarian Nordgau[98].

From the English Wikipedia page on the Holy Roman Empire:

The Carolingian imperial crown was initially disputed among the Carolingian rulers of Western Francia (France) and Eastern Francia (Germany), with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. However, after the death of Charles the Fat in 888 the Carolingian Empire broke asunder, never to be restored. According to Regino of Prüm, each part of the realm elected a "kinglet" from its own "bowels." After the death of Charles the Fat those who were crowned Emperors by the Pope controlled only territories in Italy. The last of such Emperors was Berengar I of Italy who died in 924.

The dukes of Alemannia, Bavaria, Franconia and Saxony elected Conrad I of the Franks, not a Carolingian, as their leader in 911. His successor, Henry (Heinrich) I the Fowler (r. 919–936), a Saxon elected at the Reichstag of Fritzlar in 919, achieved the acceptance of a separate Eastern Empire by the West Frankish (still ruled by the Carolingians) in 921, calling himself Rex Francorum Orientalum (King of the East Franks). He founded the Ottonian dynasty.

Henry designated his son Otto, who was elected King in Aachen in 936, to be his successor. A marriage alliance with the widowed queen of Italy gave Otto control over that nation as well. His later crowning as Emperor Otto I (later called "the Great") in 962 would mark an important step, since from then on the Eastern-Frankish realm – and not the West-Frankish kingdom that was the other remainder of the Frankish kingdoms–would have the blessing of the Pope. Otto had gained much of his power earlier, when, in 955, the Magyars were defeated in the Battle of Lechfeld.

In contemporary and later writings, this crowning would also be referred to as translatio imperii, the transfer of the Empire from the Romans to a new Empire. The German Emperors thus thought of themselves as being in direct succession of those of the Roman Empire; this is why they initially called themselves Augustus. Still, they did not call themselves "Roman" Emperors at first, probably in order not to provoke conflict with the Roman Emperor in Constantinople. The term imperator Romanorum only became common under Conrad II (later than his crowning in 1027, thus in the early-middle 11th century) after the Great Schism.

Ben M. Angel notes: In short, if we are talking before 2 September 962, then no Holy Roman Empire.

From the Wikipedia page for Charles the Younger:

Charles the Younger (ca. 772 – 4 December 811), was the second son of Charlemagne and the first by his second wife, Hildegard of Swabia.[1]

When Charlemagne divided his empire among his sons, his son Charles was designated King of the Franks.

His elder brother, Pippin the Hunchback, was disinherited, and his younger brothers Carloman (renamed Pippin) and Louis the Pious received Italy and Aquitaine, respectively.

(Charles first appeared in 784 as a participant in the Saxon Wars. Charlemagne divided the Frankish army and attacked Thuringia while Charles the Younger remained in Westphalia. After a cavalry engagement in Dreingau on the Lippe River, he returned victorious to Worms. The royal family spent Christmas at Eresburg.

In 788, he was appointed King of Neustria, a sign that his father was grooming him as a successor above his younger brothers Pepin/Carloman and Louis - a decision made likely in 781.)

Charles was mostly preoccupied with the Bretons, whose border he shared and who insurrected on at least two occasions and were easily put down, but he was also sent against the Saxons on multiple occasions. Charles' father outlived him, however, and the entire kingdom thus went to his younger brother Louis the Pious, Pippin also having died.

Around 789 it was suggested by Charlemagne that Charles the Younger should be married to the daughter of King Offa of Mercia, Ælfflæd. Offa insisted that the marriage could only go ahead if Charlemagne's daughter Bertha was married to Offa's son Ecgfrith.

Charlemagne took offence, broke off contact, and closed his ports to English traders.[2] Eventually, normal relations were reestablished and the ports were reopened. Just a few years later, in 796, Charlemagne and Offa concluded the first commercial treaty known in English history.

His father associated Charles in the government of Francia and Saxony in 790, and installed him as ruler of the ducatus Cenomannicus (corresponding to the later Duchy of Maine).[2][3]

(German Wikiedia says that Charlemagne held an Imperial assembly in Paderborn, and sent his son Charles with half the army to Bardengau in order to quell unrest there.)

Charles was crowned King of the Franks at Rome December 25, 800, the same day his father was crowned Emperor.[2]

(German Wikipedia says that he was sent in 805 with Pope Leo III as his accompaniment to the Alps, then to Rheims. In the same year, Charlemagne sent him to Bohemia, where he attacked and devastated the entire country, killing Duke Lecho.)

He killed Sorbian duke Miliduch and Slavic Knez, Nussito (Nessyta) near modern-day Weißenfels in a Frankish campaign in 806.[4][5]

(German Wikipedia says that Charlemagne held a meeting in Thionville in 806 to issue his Divisions Regnorum, or rules by which the succession of his empire would be carried out. Charles the Younger would be given the Frankish core area of the Loire River up to the Rhine River, along with acquisitions on the Elbe and Danube. Further, he was determined to be the sole owner of family property and as such obtained most of the royal palaces, including monasteries and goods. He was not given the Imperial title because he was as yet unmarried and had no heirs - and remained that way until death.)

(In 808, Charlemagne attacked the Danish King Gudfred in order to protect the northern border of Franconian Wagrien - present Lubeck Bay. Charles the Younger led a retaliatory campaign against the Danes at Linonen and Semldinger, destroying the nearby countryside.)

(Between 810 and 811, he instituted inheritance tax laws, which Charlemagne had foreseen as worthless. On 8 July 810, Pepin d'Italie died, and the year after, Pepin the Hunchback (a monk at Prum) also died the year before.)

On 4 December 811, in Bavaria, Charles had a stroke and died. He left no children.[2] (The only heir remaining was Louis the Pious.)

References

1.^ Himiltrude, by whom Charlemagne had a son, Pepin the Hunchback, was a concubine or common law wife. See Riche, Pierre, The Carolingians, p.86 ("Although he already had a son by his concubine, Himiltrude..."); Chamberlin, Russell, The Emperor Charlemagne, p.61: "he made the first of those confusing sexual relationships which was something more than concubinage, less than marriage...the Franks called it friedelehe, and it could perhaps be compared with the English system of common-law wife or husband..."

Marriages and heirs of Charlemagne from Wikipaedia

Charlemagne's second wife was Hildegard (757 or 758–783), married 771, died 783. By her he had nine children: - Charles the Younger (ca. 772–4 December 811), Duke of Maine, and crowned King of the Franks on 25 December 800 - Carloman, renamed Pippin (April 777–8 July 810), King of Italy - Adalhaid (774), who was born whilst her parents were on campaign in Italy. She was sent back to Francia, but died before reaching Lyons - Rotrude (or Hruodrud) (775–6 June 810) - Louis (778–20 June 840), twin of Lothair, King of Aquitaine since 781, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 813, senior Emperor from 814 - Lothair (778–6 February 779/780), twin of Louis, he died in infancy[37] - Bertha (779-826) - Gisela (781-808) - Hildegarde (782-783)